Magical Difference
by totallymagical
Summary: *Hogwarts AU* Klaus and Caroline, the pureblood and the Muggle-born, follow them in their last years at Hogwarts. As change as in the air and the threat of war draws nearer. Only one thing will be certain and that is nothing will ever be the same.


Looking back on it, Klaus Mikaelson found that this situation like a great many things in his life, was his mother's fault. She, after all, told Kol and Rebekah _not_ to do something and expected anything other the _exact opposite_ to happen. It's like she didn't even raise them, oh wait.

Now he was trapped, he couldn't get out of this, and it was all because of his dear mother's parting words to them at Kings Cross four years ago.

"Bekah, Kol, slow down! You're attracting attention!" Elijah, the prefect-in-training, whispered harshly to their youngest siblings. They were racing, literally racing, towards the divider between platforms nine and ten, and they were neck-and-neck, at least until Kol threw one of his books off his trolley on the ground and she swerved to avoid it, falling over in the process. He took advantage and passed through the barrier without another thought. "You prat!" Bekah screeched. He and Elijah rushed over to help her but she'd already stood up, righted her trolley, and was halfway to the barrier before they could do anything. He saw a proud look on Elijah's face before he pick up Kol's book, strode up to the barrier, and gracefully fell through it.

Klaus glanced behind him to see if any Muggles had noticed, they hadn't shocker, but that's when he saw her. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and was wearing a yellow sundress. She was gaping at the divider like it was the strangest thing she'd ever seen. It occurred to him then that she must've been a Muggle-born because the girl beside her, who shared many of the same features as the girl in yellow , except she had a very disgruntled look on her face , and two middle-aged people couldn't tell what she found so fascinating.

"Niklaus, what are you waiting for? Get a move on." His mother snapped impatiently. He shook his head vigorously and headed for the barrier. On the other side, he felt immense relief when he caught sight of the bright red Hogwarts Express, he was almost home.

He saw Elijah standing at the very edge of the platform, leave it to him to follow mother's instructions. He briefly considered disobeying her and simply getting on the train, as Bekah and Kol had obviously done, but decided against it Mikael would have enough reasons to be angry with him at Christmas no need to add any more to the list. He silently joined his brother and the two waited for their mother. Less than a moment later Esther Mikaelson appeared and began walking swiftly toward them.

"Where are Kol and Rebekah?" "Already on the train." Elijah said unflinchingly. "And why on they on the train when they were _specifically told to wait here_?" He and Elijah shared a look they both knew why, the eleven-year-olds were too excited at the prospect of not having to deal with Mikael for almost four whole months to follow Mother's silly instructions, they didn't dare say that to her though. "Will you go get them please?" She asked Elijah, her words were polite her tone was not. He turned abruptly and set off to find them.

A tense silence ensued. He could tell his mother wanted nothing more than to give him 'the lecture' but after going over it about a thousand times last year and an additional three hundred this summer he had made her promise to back off. She opened her mouth to speak but his siblings mercifully appeared. "Alright, Kol, Rebekah, have a good term. Your father and I are proud of you," t _hen why isn't he here_ they all thought bitterly, "We know you'll do the family name proud and avoid making friends with any unsavory people (Muggle-borns). Try not to get into too much trouble, that goes for all of you, and we'll see you at Christmas." She then bent down and scooped her youngest children into a stiff, awkward hug. She quickly stood up and departed without another word. The four Mikaelsons looked around at other parents and children, how there were hugs and kisses and promises to write soon and 'i love you's' and then their mother left without so much as a goodbye. They weren't bothered by this though, they just merely curious as to how others behaved.

They quickly got on the train and found an empty compartment, he briefly considered finding Marcel and sitting with him but decided against it, Bekah had been distant with him all summer and he wanted to spend time with her, not to mention 'Lijah'd probably hex him if he left him alone with the twin terrors. It didn't take long for two to start bickering over something absurd, still he couldn't help but notice they were a lot closer than they were a year ago. He supposed being alone with Mother and Mikeal for a year would force anyone to knew that's why she was angry, he left her and she'd still not gotten over Freya and Finn leaving. She felt like everyone was abandoning her though, honestly, Freya and Finn had pretty much left them all, not that he could blame them, he wasn't planning on staying in that house a moment longer than he had to and it was pretty telling that the undisputed favorites of the Mikaelson children left almost exactly at midnight on their respective seventeenth birthdays. But still there is a difference between leaving your parents and abandoning your siblings.

He was pulled out of what was sure to be a truly dark and bitter train of thoughts by a soft knock on their compartment door. It was the-girl-in-yellow, she opened the sliding door, glanced around warily, and asked, "could I sit here?" Elijah opened his mouth to answer her but before he could a dark-haired girl seized her hand and dragged her to her compartment behind them.

He couldn't help it, he was too curious, he focused on the faint sound of her voice and suddenly it became ten times sharper, her voice as clear as if she were sitting next to him. "Sorry about that, I'm Bonnie." The dark haired girl said, Klaus racked his brain for why she sounded familiar then it came to him she was a Bennett, well that explains that. "I'm Caroline," the-girl-in-yellow said, Caroline, it suited her, "why did you do that?" "I'm sorry, but trust me, you don't want to sit with them, they're not… very nice." "What?" Caroline said sounding flummoxed. "They…" She sighed, "you're Muggle-born, right?" "Yes, why? What's that got to do with anything?" And so he had to listen to the Bennett girl's long winded, though mostly accurate, explanation why someone like her shouldn't associate with people like them."Okay." Was all Caroline said in response.

The rest of the train ride was uneventful, and Elijah and Klaus separated from Kol and Rebekah as they went into carriages and boats respectively. The Great Hall was as ornate as ever with hundreds of floating candles, and four huge tables under banners representing their houses, he and Elijah were the first to sit at the Slytherin table. Not long after, the first years came in and the sorting started. Professor McGonagall briskly walked up to the stage and began reading off names. "Bennett, Bonnie." The Bennett girl slowly walked up to the stage, looking positively petrified, and sat on the stool, the hat was placed on her head. It took about thirty seconds before declaring "RAVENCLAW!" There was customary applause, and she hurried to her house table. The sorting continued, "Branson, Alexia" became a Gryffindor, "Donovan, Matthew" became a Hufflepuff, then "Forbes, Caroline" was called.

Klaus' interest piqued, he couldn't help but wondering where she would end up, with her cheery attitude she'd probably end up in Hufflepuff. "Hey," Marcel nudged him, "five Galleons she ends up in Hufflepuff." Looking at her again he changed his mind, she was confident and he could see something in her that didn't quite fit in with the Hufflepuff house "five Galleons she goes to Gryffindor." "Her Gryffindor? Really? Whatever it's your money." Marcel shrugged.

The sorting hat was placed on her head and they waited. It took a bit longer this time, about a minute and a half, then the hat finally opened it's mouth (the rip above the brim) and Klaus prepared to win five Galleons just as the hat bellowed "SLYTHERIN!"

In that moment Klaus was quite glad the feast hadn't started yet because he was sure more than a few students would've choked, himself included. The hat had clearly lost its mind, putting her in Slytherin, honestly he'd seen better decision making out of Kol. A Muggle-born in Slytherin, yeah, that was bound to go over well, especially now with political climate shifting, and tensions between purebloods and well everyone else growing. Not that everyone in Slytherin was prejudiced, though some certainly were, it was just in the nature of them to know which way the wind was blowing and act accordingly. That did not bode well for Caroline Forbes.

A light applause broke out, mainly from teachers as most students were still too stunned, and she got off the stool and made her way over to the house table. There she faced a conundrum, where to sit? She scanned the faces of her new housemates and saw shock, surprise, disgust, and from a few hatred. However, she still made a decision that was nearly as shocking as her mere presence at the table, she sat next to Elijah.

The sorting continued, Kol and Rebekah were placed in Slytherin, obviously, and the only other sorting of note was Stefan Salvatore's, who was placed in Gryffindor, rather than Slytherin. But before Dumbledore's customary speech started something Klaus would later call the beginning of the end happened: "Hey," Kol said from beside him, he turned to him, but Kol wasn't looking at him, he was looking across the table at Elijah, the eldest Mikaelson looked at him, "Not you," he said to Elijah dismissively, "you." He said looking directly at Caroline. The blonde looked up, clearly surprised at being addressed after her less than warm welcome. "I'm Kol." He said conversationally. "I'm Caroline." She said warily.

He'd never know how she didn't quit school after the first month. With being in the same room as Rebekah, being called awful names, and getting jinxed so often by the older Slytherins, that some of the Gryffindors felt honor bound to defend her. In case you missed it, the Gryffindors defended her, it was that bad. Slughorn spoke to the whole house about fraternity and house-unity, which Caroline expanded on by (not literally) blowing up at them immediately after he left, saying things like ' _if you really are so much better than I am then why don't you prove it, and be better than me, stop wasting your time cursing me, and start doing something that's actually productive. In case you haven't noticed I've been here a month and I'm already at the top of my class, and won't your perfect pureblood parents be disappointed when they find out a first year_ mudblood _is out-pacing you in school? So I'd get studying, because I'm not going anywhere and you lot clearly are so much better than me, so why are you even brothering with me anyway?'_

It was not the most inspiring speech in the world but it did make them realize she was right however strongly their parents may feel about her _in_ Slytherin, they most likely had stronger feelings about her being a _better_ Slytherin than them, plus it wasn't in the nature of a Slytherin to fight in a losing battle, they may not like her being there but she wasn't going anywhere and it was a waste trying to make her leave, if anything it made her more determined.

All that was four years ago, now Caroline Forbes was still at the top of her year and a prefect, the Slytherins mostly tolerated her or just ignored her. That's not to say she didn't have friends in the house no she had Kol, of all people. Which brings us to why this is all his mother's fault if she hadn't told Kol to not befriend Muggle-borns he would've ignored Caroline, or at least been indifferent to her,and he would not have pestered her until she agreed to be his friend, and then Rebekah wouldn't have been jealous and wouldn't have been determined to see what so special about the plain, Muggle-born her twin was half-obsessed with and then she wouldn't have also taken a liking to her and Caroline, in turn, wouldn't have felt the need to be noble and when she heard groaning coming from his dorm, and she wouldn't have seen Klaus trying to bandage the fresh scratches on his back, and they wouldn' be having this conversation.

"Klaus?" She called opening the door. "Klaus?" She said again, entering the dorm. "Kl- oh there you are- whoa what'd you do to yourself?" She asked concerned. "Nothing." He said gruffly, trying to put magi-bandages on his back. "That doesn't look like nothing." She inspected the gashes closely. "Those are really bad, you should go see madame Pomfrey." "No." He snapped turning to face her for the first time. Instead of being frightened and going away she said, "fine then. Turn around." "What?" He said confusedly. "I'm going to help you, turn around." Not having much choice he did. He felt her hand on his back as she examined the gashes, she clicked her tongue, and picked up the bandages. "Why aren't you in Hogsmeade?" He asked as the bandage touched his skin, "charms essay." she said distractedly as she placed another bandage.

"There all done," She declared and he turned around, "now how did you say this happened?" "I didn't. Thank you for your help now go away." He said dismissively, thinking it would get rid of her. "What happened?" She pressed. "I fell on a thornbush in Herbology." He said easily. She narrowed her eyes, "Really? We don't have to do this. I know, Klaus." He stiffened she couldn't possibly know but he could see it in her eyes, she knew "you know what?"

"I know you're a werewolf."

Yep, this was all his mother's fault.

 **AN: I started on this to get my writing juices flowing again but it snowballed, and here we are. Now comes the question: Should I continue it? I'm super behind on all my other stuff, I know I haven't forgotten, but this helped me start writing again. I can't promise regular updates, at all. This got in my head and I felt like sharing.**


End file.
